Science DailyAlthough female certified urologists are still a minority within the specialty, they perform many more procedures on women than their male colleagues, who perform more procedures on men than their female colleagues. As more women opt to specialize in urology, attention needs to be paid to the way gender shapes the clinical landscape, report researchers.READ MORE

The Washington PostEnrollment in the insurance exchanges for President Obama’s signature health-care law is at less than half the initial forecast, pushing several major insurance companies to stop offering health plans in certain markets because of significant financial losses. As a result, the administration’s promise of a menu of health-plan choices has been replaced by a grim, though preliminary, forecast: Next year, more than 1 in 4 counties are at risk of having a single insurer on its exchange, said Cynthia Cox, who studies health reform for the Kaiser Family Foundation.READ MORE

STATThe whirling hum of a dialysis machine could have been the soundtrack to the rest of Zahra Hajikarimi’s life but for an unusual program in Iran that allows people to buy a kidney from a living donor. Iran’s kidney program stands apart from other organ donation systems around the world by openly allowing payments, typically of several thousand dollars. It has helped effectively eliminate the country’s kidney transplant waiting list since 1999, the government says, in contrast to Western nations like the United States, where tens of thousands hope for an organ and thousands die waiting each year.READ MORE

CNBCGroups of hospitals, doctors and other health providers that agree to coordinate patient care as part of an Obamacare program generated $466 million in savings to the federal Medicare program in 2015, officials said Thursday. The groups, known as accountable care organizations, provide care for a total of about 7.7 million beneficiaries of Medicare, the program that covers primarily senior citizens.READ MORE

The HillIncreasingly, there are two Obamacares. There’s the one in coastal and northern areas, where the marketplaces include multiple insurers and plans. And there’s the one in southern and rural areas, where there is often little competition, a situation that can lead to higher premiums.READ MORE

Kaiser Health NewsDr. Lee Gross is worried. He has practiced family medicine in North Port, Florida, near Sarasota, for 14 years. But he and two partners are the last small, independent practice in the town of 62,000. Everyone else has moved away, joined larger groups, or become salaried employees of hospitals or health companies. "We're struggling to survive," Gross, 47, said. "Our kind of practice is dying in this country, and medicine itself is changing so rapidly that doctors everywhere seem to be burning out."READ MORE

California HealthlineEarlier this year, Laurie Kirkland of Laguna Beach was taken by surprise when she received medical bills for her husband’s spinal surgeries. Their Blue Shield insurance deductible had been met, and the surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was in-network. The bills, she soon found out, were from an assistant surgeon who was out-of-network, meaning the surgeon had no contract with their insurer. Kirkland and her husband faced $9,000 in charges. After they contested the bills, their insurer agreed to cover $3,000 of what they owed – leaving them with a big debt. “I didn’t even know there was an assistant surgeon in the room,” Kirkland said. “I can’t afford to pay the bills.” Legislation designed to protect Californians like the Kirklands from surprise medical bills could be considered in the state Senate as early as Thursday. A similar bill failed last year, but patient advocates believe this measure has a strong chance of moving forward.READ MORE

Fierce HealthcareIt looks like California lawmakers will soon decide the fate of a bill that would protect patients against surprise medical bills – a proposal that has divided doctors and insurers.
The California Senate voted 28-1 to pass the bill that would protect patients from costs when unknowingly treated by a doctor not covered by their insurance, according to STAT. The controversial bill could come up for a vote by the state assembly later this week and then would need approval by the governor to become law.READ MORE

The Associated Press via KRON-TVCalifornia lawmakers are sending Gov. Jerry Brown legislation that would require health insurance plans to notify customers if state regulators have deemed their premiums unreasonable. The bill cleared the state Senate in a 25-12 vote on Wednesday, Aug. 24. California regulators review proposed health plan rates each year for companies that sell directly to individuals or small businesses. The regulators have no power to reject prices they consider unreasonable or unjustified but can publicly label them as such.READ MORE